Secretary Watson provides mid-day Primary Election update

Secretary of State Michael Watson says his office expects higher voter turnout for the primary races today as compared to prior years.

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson says local elections, like sheriffs’ races, have piqued interest in voters to turn out to the polls on this Primary Election Day. He said the impact of the Republican primary for Lt. Governor between incumbent Delbert Hosemann and State Senator Chris McDaniel is also of interest.

“If you look at the absentee numbers, where we saw spikes were in counties with sheriff’s races. In counties like that they really tend to turn out good voter participation,” said Watson.

He indicated that there were 2,000 more absentee ballots submitted this year than the 2019 primary. He also reminded voters that mail-in absentee ballots must be postmarked by today.

Watson said he expects the turnout numbers for this Primary to be higher.

So far this Tuesday, Secretary Watson says there have not been any technical issues for voters who are casting ballots. He attributed this to many counties switching back to paper ballots which are then scanned in to be counted.

“Some people are seeing a longer process, but that is just because poll workers are dealing with something new, but that’s okay,” said Watson.

He reminded voters that polls close at 7:00 p.m. and not to forget to bring a form of photo ID.